Once you’ve found good prospective areas for “public hunting land near me,” (read that in our public land 101 series part 1 HERE) and have scouted it thoroughly (read part 2 HERE), accessing it correctly is vital to your deer hunting success. Hunting pressure is the number one thing that destroys hunts and turns good hunting areas into deer ghost towns, and incorrect access is one of the main contributors to pressure. You just have to access your hunting locations correctly to have any chance. So here’s a beginners guide, some general principles to correctly access your public land spot for increased deer hunting success.
Principle #1: Never Through Food Sources. I see this mistake all the time – public land hunters entering in the morning through a food source (like a bean or hay field), or exiting through one. Since food sources are nighttime draws for deer, this immediately increases hunter-deer contact and educates them quickly. Once educated, your chances drop significantly, so think long and hard about other routes to get to your stand, or consider if you should be hunting there at all in the morning or evening. Some places are just better for one or the other. The bottom line is avoid entering through food in the morning, and avoid leaving through it in the evening.
Principle #2: Entry and Exit May be Different. Due to this basic fact, you need to realize your entry route and exit route may be very different. They may even take you a very long way around just to avoid deer where they are at that given time. Deer will be at food in the morning and coming back to bedding, and at bedding in the afternoon and coming toward food at night. So rarely are your entry and exits going to be the same for a location, and these really have to be planned out to avoid what the deer will be doing. Accept this fact and shift in thinking, and your chances start going up.
Principle #3: Plan Around Deer Movement. As stated, you need to think in terms of what deer are doing, not what’s convenient for you. Your main goal should be to encounter, to educate NO deer to your presence or that they are being hunted. So think through a hunting location, why deer will be there, when they will be there, where they will be coming from, where they are going, and plan your routes as to not encounter them. For example, if deer are headed to a bean field at night, you can enter through the bean field to get to your stand and expect to not encounter deer. But as deer fill the field toward dusk, you need a good plan to exit away from it and not run into or blow out deer in the field. Planning is key!
Principle #4: Plan Routes Ahead of Time. This best happens when you’ve done your homework well ahead of time and aren’t “shooting from the hip.” You can do this generally with a map or gps app, but it is best to do some work in the off season walking these out and seeing if your map routes are indeed walkable.
Sometimes dense cover, or difficult terrain will change your plans or require more tools (like wades, a canoe, etc.), so you definitely need to know your routes and drop some pins (possibly both digital on your app as well as physical reflector pins) to help guide your way. Think of planning a surgical strike, so you can get in and out like a ghost – that takes planning.
For specific help where you hunt, consider a strategic hunting analysis with Adam. Both virtual and in-person options are available – inquire about that HERE!
